MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Daily Inquirer bagged the first and third prizes of the first International Committee on the Red Cross (ICRC) Journalism Award on humanitarian reporting handed out on Saturday during a seminar on conflict reporting.
Inquirer correspondent Frinston Lim, who covers Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and the Compostela Valley, won the first prize with his story, “Women grieve over land mine deaths,” published on Feb. 27.
The Geneva-based ICRC said Lim provided a “human-touch story,” which focused on the death of three civilians from a land mine explosion as they were onboard a military truck in Compostela Valley. It said the story gave a “deeper look into the humanitarian consequences of armed conflict.”
“New leg, new life,” by Stella Estremera, editor in chief of the SunStar Davao Daily, was adjudged second prize winner.
Fernando del Mundo, chief of the Inquirer investigative team, won the third prize on initiatives by international aid agencies to ease the plight of families displaced by the conflict in Mindanao.
Two other Inquirer stories made it to the top five of the ICRC ranking of 11 finalists in the print category of the awards given to journalists working for online, print, and radio and broadcast media.
In the short list of finalists were “19,000 still depend on food aid,” a story on Maguindanao evacuees by Inquirer Mindanao’s Nash B. Maulana, and “Abra women use livelihood to stop violence,” by Desiree Caluza of Inquirer Northern Luzon.
Also among the finalists were Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer correspondent for Ozamiz City; Francis William Wakefield, Manila Bulletin; Iris Cecilia Gonzales, Philippine Star; Pastor Antonio Manaytay, Zamboanga-Sibugay Tribune; Jaime Sta. Cruz, Mindanao Cross, and Claro Esoen, freelance journalist and columnist of the weekly Mountain Times in The Mountain Province.
ICRC officials cited efforts of groups of bloggers to promote social media networking on key national and international issues and concerns.
The ICRC said the judges included representatives of partner-organizations: International News Safety Institute, Peace and Conflict Journalism Network, Philippine Association of Communication Educators and Rotary Club of Manila.
Speakers at the seminar at the Richmonde Hotel in Pasig City included Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer, on Philippine media coverage of conflict situations; Antonio Cruz, president of Bloggers Association, on the role of new media in contemporary conflicts; and Agence France-Presse correspondent Jason Gutierrez, on covering war and other situations of violence.
Former Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, who assisted in handing out the awards, welcomed ICRC’s efforts to enhance reporting on humanitarian issues.